Tag Archives: indiana

I guess Indiana must have an inferiority complex of some sort. After all, what is the first thing you think of when you hear the word “Indiana?” The Indianapolis 500 race? Jim Nabors? Sorghum?

Obviously feeling as if his state is even further in the shadow of such states as North Carolina and Mississippi, Republican State Senator Jim Tomes (second from the left in the photograph above) wants Indiana to be stuck in our memories, like a fly in toffee, for having the strictest anti-transgender toilet terror bill on the books. Tomes SB 35, which he calls “a simple bill,” would accomplish two things. First, it makes it illegal for any transgender student to ever use a bathroom, locker room, or changing facility congruent with their gender identity. Students would be classified by the Sorting Hat of genitals and chromosomes. And Indiana’s public schools would be blatantly in violation of Title IX, but hey…

Much more scarily, however, the bill also states that any transgender person who uses a public sex-specific restroom, locker room, or shower room that matches their gender identity has committed a “single sex public facility trespass,” which it deems a Class A misdemeanor. A Class A misdemeanor is the highest non-felony charge in Indiana, punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $5,000 dollars.

Displaying a pair of “brass ones” the size of two Jovian moon, Tomes insists his legislation doesn’t target transgender people, stating somewhat disjointedly “Shouldn’t we also ask about…what about the other sector of society of people that who have all through the decades women been using women’s restrooms and men been using men’s restrooms and kind of like that and kind of expect that level of privacy?”